Hutzler has some psyches to rebuild

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- It didn't take Sigmund Freud to see that Florida kicker Austin Hardin would need some special treatment after a calamitous 2013 season.

After Coleman Hutzler was hired in December to be the Gators' special teams coach, he met with all of his specialists and clearly saw his mission -- "rebuilding some confidence, obviously."

Hardin sticks out as a particularly important reclamation project.

Last season, expectations and opportunity loomed large for the No. 1 kicker prospect in the Class of 2012. Hardin's job was to replace Caleb Sturgis, a record-setting All-American who had the kicking duties locked down for three seasons.

Jeff Barlis/ESPNNew special teams coach Coleman Hutzler's top task is to restore confidence among the Gators' kickers and punters.

Hardin made just 4 of 12 field-goal attempts -- his season-long a 33-yarder -- and opened the door for walk-ons Francisco Velez and Brad Phillips to take the job.

Enter Hutzler, who could see right away in his meeting with Hardin that confidence was the first order of business.

"Yeah, anybody would," Hutzler said. "I wasn't here [last season]. The first thing I said to him was, 'I can't speak on what you went through.' But the bottom line is he's back and ready to work and excited about the opportunity to go out and not make amends, but do right."

Hutzler found himself repeating the advice for all of Florida's kickers.

"That’s been my message to the guys throughout these meetings I’ve had with them," he said. "We need to get back to work, obviously, and get things cleaned up technique-wise and get things cleaned up when it comes to the foot hitting the ball. But we also need to get our confidence back."

The same held true for punter Kyle Christy, a decorated recruit who showed off a powerful leg as soon as he arrived at UF. Christy was a finalist for the Ray Guy Award after averaging a school-record 45.8 yards per punt as a sophomore in 2012. Last year, he slumped badly and ceded his job to true freshman Johnny Townsend, who averaged 42 yards a punt and was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team.

"We've had a chance to sit down in the time that I've been here," Hutzler said of Christy. He said they talked about "just being consistent in what got him to the level he had, the season he had so much success. Getting back to that work ethic, getting back to that confidence in his ability that he has, the techniques that he has and applying those over and over again. I tell those guys it's repeating the same motion over and over. For whatever reason or whatever happened, he did get away from those things.

"[The challenge is] to get him back to that level and compete with a guy like Johnny Townsend, who I'm excited to see work as well this spring."

Hutzler doesn't claim to be a kicking guru, but he certainly has familiarity with the Gators, having served on the staff in 2010 and worked under then-special teams coordinator D.J. Durkin.

"Coleman Hutzler is a guy that was with our staff the first year, understands and knows our special-teams system, how we teach it, our teaching progression," head coach Will Muschamp said last week in introducing his new coaches. "He'll implement it very well. He's a guy that really had a year interview, so to speak, the first year he was here. ...

"We certainly struggled this past year with our specialists, and I think he can help us some there."

To do that, Hutzler might need to spend as much time off the field in helping several Gators get over a difficult 2013 season.

"Guys like Austin Hardin and Kyle Christy and Drew Ferris, the snapper, those guys need to have confidence in their abilities and go out and put it out on the field," he said. "I wasn't here. All that you can go off of is the numbers and the statistics.

"Obviously that’s not the standard that we expect. It starts now with building confidence, bottom line, and working your butt off both in the offseason and then through spring ball."